What is No-Fault Insurance?

By
Levine & Blit, PLLC
|June 11, 2015

Generally,
no-fault insurance is a type of vehicle insurance in which the insurer covers damages incurred
by its customer, the insured, in the event of an accident – regardless
of who is at fault. This type of coverage eliminates the need for a driver
involved in a vehicle accident to pursue the other driver’s insurance
company for monetary reimbursement of damages incurred and caused by that
driver. If you or someone you know has been involved in a vehicle accident,
or suffered any other type of personal injury, contact an experienced
and aggressivevehicle accident attorneyright away for help understanding your specific insurance policy.

No-Fault Car Insurance – Required or Not?

Presently, no-fault car insurance is available in 12 states around the
nation in addition to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Some states require
this insurance while others do not. The states that have no-fault insurance
laws include:

Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New Jersey allow for residents to elect purchasing
no-fault insurance or to opt-out and choose “full tort” coverage.
“Full tort” coverage does not impose a limit on the dollar
amount for which a person can sue in civil court. This type of coverage
is available in almost every other state in the nation. Laws in the remaining
nine states listed above, however, do not provide this option, as no-fault
insurance is mandated. Numerous states in the nation enacted no-fault
laws in the 1970s and later repealed them.

What is No-Fault Insurance: Car Accidents Coverage

If you live in a state where no-fault car insurance is optional –
or mandatory – you should know what rights and obligations these
laws afford.

● Bodily injury – as opposed to traditional car insurance, which
allows an insured to take out liability coverage to pay for bodily injury
claims if deemed at fault, no-fault car insurance coverage extends to
the insured. In other words, there is no need to wait for reimbursement
by way of a lawsuit or have medical bills lingering.
● Associated costs – no-fault car insurance has a personal injury
protection (PIP) element that assures both medical bills are covered and
associated losses. Depending on the state, no-fault coverage may also
compensate for lost wages as a result of the accident.

No-fault coverage pertains only to coverage for personal bodily injury
– it does not cover property damage. Accordingly, property damage
liability coverage should be included when purchasing car insurance to
pay for the property damage of others. Likewise, collision coverage (which
is often optional, unless required by a car loan or finance company) should
be purchased to pay for damages for your own car in the event of an accident.

Contact a Personal Injury Attorney

While no-fault coverage has its benefits, it does not entirely prevent
lawsuits from arising out of a vehicle accident. Drivers involved in an
accident may still file suit against another, however, no-fault laws restrict
when a suit may be brought. Because these restrictions vary by state,
it is important to contact knowledgeable personal injury attorneys to
handle your case. The legal professionals at
Levine & Blit, PLLC have years of experience and will conduct an initial evaluation of your
case, at no cost. With offices in New York, Florida and California, contact
us by completing our
online form today. We will make sure that you understand all aspects of the law when
trying to figure out “what is no-fault insurance” and how
it can help you get the care you need without having to incur hospital
and doctor bills in the process.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.